The St. Louis Blues won a nailbiter of a game last night against the Utah Mammoth, taking home the win after eight rounds in the shootout for a final score of 1-0. With that victory, they carry a 9-8-2 record and 20 standings points, holding down seventh in the Central Division. That's only a couple of points back of a playoff berth, and the win came over a division rival, but still, they're in a precarious position.
There's one reason the Blues are even remotely in the playoff conversation at all, and it's the play of goaltender Joel Hofer. They'd be sunk without him--and the rest of the team needs to get it together and provide some scoring support for their netminder.
Hofer's lights out run
It cannot be expressed just how good Joel Hofer has been this season. Per MoneyPuck, his 9.5 Goals Saved Above expected (GSAx) is third in the league, behind the Minnesota Wild's Jesper Wallstedt and Jacob Fowler on the Montreal Canadiens. Hofer's .926 SV% is tied for second in the league with Fowler. His 30 goals against is third fewest among goalies with 12 or more games played.
In short: Hofer has been the Blues' best player all year, and is looking like a legit star NHL goaltender. If the Blues had a better record, he'd probably be generating some early Vezina buzz. That mediocre record clearly isn't on Hofer--it's the lack of urgency from the team in front of him.
Where are the goals?
A few weeks ago, the Blues got shut out in back-to-back games. Since then, they've scored 18 goals and have also allowed 18 goals; for the season, they have a minus-1 goal differential. That's not too bad, but their 54 goals for is the third lowest mark in the Central--and you gotta score goals to win games.
Jimmy Snuggerud's been holding up his end of the bargain, with a team-leading 10 goals on the season, but it gets dire after that. Mason McTavish is second on the team with seven goals, but most of that was during his hot start--he has one goal in his past nine games. Everyone else is sitting at five goals or fewer, and the players that are supposed to be leading the way (Dylan Holloway and Robert Thomas) are both stuck at three goals apiece.
That's simply not good enough. For a team without a superstar skater, a team like the Blues needs production from the top of the lineup--and outside of Snuggerud, they're not really getting it. Yesterday would've been a good opportunity to pour on the offense against the Mammoth, as both Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley were out of the lineup, and Karel Vejmelka is having a rough season (though he was certainly locked in last night).
It's a shame, considering how excellent Hofer has been this season. If he had some more goal support, we'd be talking about a team squarely in the playoff mix; instead, we're worrying how long Hofer can keep this up or--worse--where an injury would leave this team. The skaters need to find some offense, because relying on their goalie to steal some games never ends well over the course of an entire season.
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